Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with January 4.

Events

2018 – World Braille Day – Celebrates the birth of Louis Braille (1809-1852) and raises awareness of Braille as a means of communication for the visually impaired.

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Births

1851 – Ottomar Ernst Felix Rosenbach (1851-1907), German physician; described Rosenbach sign (1878), Rosenbach phenomenon (1876), Rosenbach-Semon Law (1880), Rosenbach test (1880)

1896 – Jørgen Løvset (1896-1981), Norwegian professor of obstetrics and gynecology; described Løvset’s Manoeuvre (1937); Løvset’s Umbilical Clip (1932); and Løvset’s Cervical Dilators (1933)

1911 – Margaret Ruth Dix (1911-1991), English neuro-otologist; described the Dix-Hallpike Test (1952).

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Deaths

1914 – Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914), American physician. Described Causalgia (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome), Phantom Limb, Mitchell’s Syndrome (Erythromelalgia) and Mitchell’s Rest Cure. Weir Mitchell provided an early description of tendon hammer and tendon reflexes in 1859 as a ‘peculiar contraction‘, ahead of Wilhelm Heinrich Erb and Carl Westphal in 1875

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Further reading

• World Braille Day. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2018